The Miami Heat’s next game is scheduled for Friday, in New York, against the Knicks.  Although the game has not been rescheduled as of yet, the NBA should be looking into the possibility of rescheduling the game as the city tries to recover from Hurricane Sandy.  This isn’t like in the aftermath of 9/11 when everyone wanted to go back to normal as quickly as possible.  Although most subway lines and buses are back running, this is really not the time to pull resources from where they are really needed in the recovery and cleanup effort and play a basketball game.  It would be real easy to move the date of the game to where it doesn’t create a hardship for either team later on in the season.  Let the cleanup and the recovery go on.  Whether they play it or not, the next home game for the Heat is on Saturday, the 3rd, against the Denver Nuggets.  In other games around the NBA yesterday,

Philadelphia 76ers 84 Denver 75

Spencer Hawes had 16 points, 12 rebounds, and 5 blocked shots

Indiana Pacers 90 Toronto Raptors 78

George Hill sank the winning basket with 2 seconds remaining in the game

Houston Rockets 105 Detroit Pistons 96

James Harden made his debut with the Rockets count with 37 points and 12 assists

Chicago Bulls 93 Sacramento Kings 87

Joakim Noah had 23 points and 10 rebounds

San Antonio Spurs 99 New Orleans Hornets 95

Tony Parker scored 23 points, including a crucial 3-pointer with 49 seconds left in the game

Utah Jazz 113 Dallas Mavericks 94

Mo and Marvin Williams scored 21 points each

Golden State Warriors 87 Phoenix Suns 85

Carl Landry finished with 17 points, including 12 in the final quarter

LA Clippers 101 Memphis Grizzlies 92

Jamal Crawford scored 20 points in his Clipper debut   

Portland Trailblazers 116 LA Lakers 106

Two straight losses for the Lakers to open the season.  Nicholas Batum scored 26 points in the victory for Portland

TODAY IN THE NBA

Oklahoma City Thunder @ San Antonio Spurs 9:30 pm TNT

In MLB news, nothing yet on the this year’s search for a manager by the Marlins.  Former Pittsburgh manager Lloyd McClendon interviewed for the job yesterday, while Cincinnati Reds pitching coach Bryan Price withdrew his name from consideration only a couple of days after interviewing.  

Yankees closer Rafael Soriano opted out of his contract with the Yankees and he will pursue free agency.  The Yankees may make him a qualifying offer before Friday’s midnight deadline in order to secure draft compensation if Soriano ends up signing with another club.  The Yankees are still waiting to hear from Mariano Rivera as to his status next season.  

The Kansas City Royals acquired starting pitcher Ervin Santana from the Angerls for a minor league pitcher, Brandon Sisk.  The Royals declined their $8 million option on closer Joakim Soria, who missed all of last season with Tommy John elbow surgery.

The New York Mets picked up their options on third baseman David Wright ($16 million) and starting pitcher RA Dickey ($5 million).  The Tampa Bay Rays did the same with starting pitcher James Shields ($9.5 million), closer Fernando Rodney ($2.5 million), and catcher Jose Molina ($1.5 million).

Something to watch for - the Arizona Fall League, where most of the top prospects are playing, will have their All Star game this Saturday.  The Marlins will have a couple of their pitching prospects, Michael Brady and Grant Drayton playing for the West division, as well as outfield prospect Christian Yelich.  You can watch the game on the MLB network on Saturday at 8pm.

TODAY’S TRIVIA QUESTION:  This number hit me today, and I could’t resist.  In 1941, Joe Dimaggio hit in 56 straight games.  He ended the season with 30 homers, 125 RBI’s and a .357 batting average.  How many times did he strike out that season?  Tell you later, alligator. 

Over in Dolphins camp, QB Ryan Tannehill was limited in yesterday’s practice and is taking it one day at a time to determine if he will be able to play on Sunday against the Colts in Indianapolis.  Backup QB Matt Moore opened with the first team in the full-speed drills.  Tannehill said after practice that he felt good moving around, although he obviously is not at 100%.  Game time this Sunday is 1:00 pm, and the game will be televised by CBS, Channel 4 in Miami.

This week’s complete NFL schedule, 

THURSDAY

Kansas City Chiefs @ San Diego Chargers

SD -9.5 8:20 pm NFL Network

SUNDAY

Miami Dolphins @ Indianapolis Colts

Ind +1 1:00 pm CBS Ch. 4

Denver Broncos @ Cincinnati Bengals

Cin +3.5 1:00 pm

Baltimore Ravens @ Cleveland Browns

Cle +3.5 1:00 pm

Arizona Cardinals @ Green Bay Packers

GB -11 1:00 pm

Chicago Bears @ Tennessee Titans

Ten +3.5 1:00 pm

Carolina Panthers @ Washington Redskins

Was -3.5 1:00 pm

Detroit Lions @ Jacksonville Jaguars

Jax +3.5 1:00 pm

Buffalo Bills @ Houston Texans

Hou -10 1:00 pm

Tampa Bay Bucs @ Oakland Raiders

Oak -1 4:05 pm

Minnesota Vikings @ Seattle Seahawks

Sea -5 4:05 pm

Pittsburgh Steelers @ New York Giants

NYG -3.5 4:25 pm FOX Ch. 7

Dallas Cowboys @ Atlanta Falcons

Atl -4 8:20 pm NBC Ch. 6

MONDAY 

Philadelphia Eagles @ New Orleans Saints

NO - 3 8:30 pm    ESPN

Bye week for the St. Louis Rams, New England Patriots, New York Jets, and San Francisco 49ers

In college football, the University of Miami Hurricanes return to the field at Seven Names Stadium tonight to take on the Virginia Tech Hokies.  Game time is 8:00 pm, and you can watch the game on ESPN.  

On saturday, FIU travels to Mobile to take on South Alabama.  Kickoff is at 3:30 pm, and you can catch the game broadcast (in English) on your smartphone or on the computer at www.fiusports.com.  I will be handling the play-by-play, and Pete Pelegrin will be handling the color analysis.  In the BCS rankings, Alabama remains #1, Kansas State is #2, Notre Dame is #3, Oregon is #4, and LSU is #5.  The rest of the top ten - #6 Georgia, #7 Florida, #8 South Carolina, #9 Florida State, and #10 Louisville.  Game of the week is definitely #1 Alabama visiting #5 LSU.  In other top ten games, #2 Kansas State is home against #24 Oklahoma State, #3 Notre Dame hosts Pittsburgh, #4 Oregon travels to #17 USC, #6 Georgia welcomes Ole Miss, #7 Florida looks to rebound at the Swamp against Missouri, and #10 Louisville is home against Temple.

THE ANSWER TO TODAY’S TRIVIA QUESTION:  This number hit me today, and I could’t resist.  In 1941, Joe Dimaggio hit in 56 straight games.  He ended the season with 30 homers, 125 RBI’s and a .357 batting average.  How many times did he strike out that year?  Incredibly enough, JoeD only struck out 13 times that entire season.  They just don’t make them like they used to.

Don’t miss my two “Descarga Deportiva” segments (for the Spanish-challenged, “Sports Jam Session”) every day, Monday through Friday, at 9:25 am and 12:15 pm on Radio Esperanza, 1550 AM or on the internet on www.miradioesperanza.com.  

Behave yourselves, and always remember that tomorrow will bring us a brand new day.